Bhatkal April 18 2018: The recently concluded Mangaluru Premiere League was a great success for the organizers and a few good players with a few good performances made a case for themselves to promote oneself from MPL to KPL (Karnataka Premiere League) and other leagues.

However, if you are from Bhatkal and you are a local cricket fan then you did not have much to cheer about this season of MPL as none of the five players from Bhatkal featuring in the league could perform well and make a case for himself, which raises a lot of questions, not about the talent of our players but their ability to perform at the higher levels and under different scenarios and pressure.

Selection of five players in leagues like MPL from Bhatkal is itself an achievement but not performing and not being upto the mark is a disappointment, though Bhatkalsports.com is proud of these players who made it to their respective teams through auctioning, but we are also concerned about these players being vulnerable in pressure situations and higher levels of game.

Bhatkalsports.com feels the need to professional training under professional coaches to the young and raw talent of the town in order for them to be ready to face the challenges at the higher level of the game.

Below is the stats of Bhatkal Players who played the MPL and their performance review report card with their ratins of Bhatkalsports.com:

Nasrullah Askeri 6.5/10: The man with a high stature in the circles of cricket Nasrullah, though scored the only half-century by any Bhatkal player this season of MPL, he however failed to capitalize on the opportunities the team management threw his way during the tournament. In 6 matches his team played in the tournament he featured in all the matches despite not being so impressive in the tournament. He scored 138 runs at an average of 23 with one 50+ score of 60 runs in a winning cause and scored runs at the strike rate of 120, far below his regular strike rate in local tournaments.

Rithesh Bhatkal 5.5/10: Another man with high reputation in cricketing circles from Bhatkal, the 28 year old player recently featured in the Karnataka State team for Vijay Hazare trophy riding on a string of good performances but failed to continue his form in the league with the bad and could do only a little damage with the ball. Being the icon player of his team he was expected to lead the bunch from the front but failed at his job. In 6 matches he played he only managed to score 65 runs at an low average of 10.83 with a highest score of 28 runs. He tried to make up for his below par stats with the ball and bagged 8 wickets while leaking 187 runs in 24 overs he bowled with best figure of 3-25 at an economy rate of 7.79 RPO.

Asjad Haider 4.5/10: One of the best fast bowling all rounder of the town, had a tournament to forget this season as he failed to keep on the expectations of his team management both with the ball and with the bat. The all rounder only managed 32 runs in 4 innings at an average of 10.66 in 7 matches, while with the ball too he could not make much of his case as he leaked 168 runs in 18 overs bagging 9 wickets with a best figure of 3-19 at an economy of 8.67 runs per over.

Shammas Mohtesham 5/10: The second most junior player from Bhatkal to feature in the league this season also had a forgettable tournament, but his performances can be justified with lack of exposure at such leagues unlike the above three players. The young man has a long way to go and hence has been rated higher than his senior mates from Bhatkal. Shammas played 7 matches and managed to score 22 runs in 3 innings with a high score of 16, a match saving last over knock which managed to tie the game for his team going into super over. With the ball however, he bagged 8 wickets in 19 overs at an average of 20.37 while conceding 163 runs with the best figure of 3-30.

Ibrahim Gulrez 5/10: The youngest Bhatkal player to feature in Mangaluru Premiere League team in the history has no stats to show as he warmed the bench during all of his team’s matches to see his side lose out the tournament at an early stage itself. He didn’t feature in the playing xi for his team in the tournament but the 19 year old player had a high expectations from local cricket fans in Bhatkal, however by being in the camp and training with professional staff during the tournament should help him and his confidence and that he it should be helpful for him to build his career hereon. Only then we have rated him 5 out of 10 so that he can take some positive out from his stay with the professional players and staffs of the game.

Indeed the Bhatkal players including all of these has a long way to go before they can prove their worth at different leagues and stages of the game, and knocking the doors of selector at higher levels, but we as a community also has a lot of homework to do before expecting the mostorous performances from our under trained youngsters, before we can provide them with good training, equipments, mental councelling, and proper fledged training with professional staff it will be unfair on their part to expect them to perform well at higher levels and different scenarios and pressure situations. It is high time for us to get our homework done and train our youngsters in a professional manner before exposing them to those conditions.

Bhatkal Sports prides itself in being the first portal of its kind in the community that not only offers a new perspective on all things sport, be it athletics, field sports or board games, but also strive to take Bhatkali sports coverage to the next level.